Studies

- Ethical concersns with covert research. This is because it does not allow for the participant to give informed consent because it involves deception. Issues with privacy being violated and the fact that some researchers may have to engage in criminal acts in order to not blow their cover. 

- It was not representative of all first time mothers in Britian as she excluded large amounts of people for example not using ethnic minorites and only using women from one hospital. 

- Due to the lack of varitey of individuals within her study and the size of the sample the study lacked generalisability and representativeness. This is becuse it wasn't a true representation of first time mothers in Britian 

- She did 6 months of observing in a london hospital from which she chose her sample from this could mean that she is being subjective as she may have chosed the individuals based on the outcome she wanted. 

- There were issues with reliability due to individuals leaving during the last interview stage for various reasons

- There could be interviewer bias as she completed all the interviews herself with a range of personal and general questions. 

- By using a longitudinal study this allowed Ann to trace development over time rather then just taking one 'snapshot' and can compair over time too.

- She used a rang of people from different classes e.g. 36% working-class and 64% were middle-class

- Used open questions which allowed her to get more detail into first time mothers. 

- Using interviews allowed for the respondent to give there thoughts/opions on topics and themes in there own words without feeling restricted this meant Oakley could get a better understanding of first time mothers 

- Aim to look at the truth behind the general held belifs about the Unification Church (Moonies) to answer questions about their belifs and to see if medias 'brainwashing' claims are justified

- She was approached to do a peice of reseach on them after they became worried about what was being written about them from ex members

- She used indepth semi-structured interviews interviewing 30 British members at random. Each lasting 6 - 8h and all taped. 

-  Also participated in overt participant observation in the form of various workshops and siminairs boths for existing members/potential. 

- Lived abroad for 6 months with the Moonies. 

- Two years later set up questionairs which were pioleted by 20 members. She found no physical force or other means affecting individuals capleablity to refuse to join. 

- As she used overt participant observation she was at risk to the hawthorn effect as individuals may change there behaviour on the baises of being studied. 

- Not all participants would have interpritated her questionair questions in the same way and you cannot know how truthful the respondents have been. This could mean that the questionair is invalid. 

- She may be subject to interviewer bias as she may only use what she sees as important when writing up the transcript.

- She was subjective as during her observation she converted one of the moonies

- Using participant observation and interviews is very time consuming causing a smaller less representative sample to be gathered

- Various methords were used in her study which meant that it was more detailed.

- The study took place over 6 years meaning she was able to gain a deep understanding of the Moonies. 

- She taped all her interviews which allowed her to make a more valid transcript 

- As she was approached by the Moonies this meant that she was able to gain accsess to the group more easily. Therefor suggesting that the study was more valid as they wanted to be studied. 

- Using overt participant research meant that the researcher can behaviour normaly, easer to take notes, can ask more questions and gather more detaild information from the respondents

- Using interviews allowed her to be able to ask the respondents more detailed questions and meant that the respondent was able to give answers in there own words without being restricted. 

- This was following the Macpherson Report on Steven Lawrance (institutional racisim with the police was wider acknowledged). 

Aim: Examines whether these institutions have had any success in improving the polices relations with young people from minority ethnic groups

- Main methord used was semi-structured interviews. Needed some structure to cover certain topics/themes but the felexibility for additional questions. 

- Used a qualitative aproach so that respondents could give a detailed information on the police encounters/attitiudes towards them. 

- Used gained from youth groups/orginisations and snowball sampling. Snowball sampling helped find more young people.

- sample = 47 young people, 15-18, 38 males, 9 females. All females/majority of males identified as African-Carribbean

- Key findings: The respondents attitudes to the police were charecterised by hostility/absence of trust

- Does not claim to be representative of all youth from ethnic minorities as its only baised on one area

- Due to *********** it meant that majority of young people used in the study felt strongly about policing 

- Semi-structured interviews can be very time consuming this means that the sample is small and not representative or generalisable. 

- Gave strong everdence that nothing had changed after Steven Lawrance.

- The qualitative approach allowed respondents to describe in their own words their encounters with the police/attititudes towards them.

- Snowball sampling helped to find more young people 

- Using semi-structured interviewers allowed for open ended responses from participents in more depth 

Aim: Represent how boys think about their emerging masculinity identity.

- They developed a methodology for interviewing in which boys felt able to speak freely and review/reflect their their views. (Focus groups)

- Sample: Consisting of 245 11-14 boys from 12 secondary schools in London, 4 male only and 8 co-educational.

- A sample of girls was thought to be needed and in the second lot of interviews 71 males and 24 girls were used. 

- They used unstructured interviews and after each interview would make notes recording his emotional responce

key findings: Masculinity in London schools consists of 3 elements:

1. Boys must be seen different and seprete from girls/things associated

2. Popular masculinity required males to be 'hard'. Illustrated through succsess at sport/'coolness'/casual attitude to school work.

- The study is useful in exsploring core themes of socialisation, culture and identity

- By using unstructured interviews it allows for questions to be more flexible allowing the respondent to answer in there own words and means the researcher can gain more detail. 

- Increased validity as the researcher is able to probe for further detailed understanding when asking questions. 

- used a variety of students from different backgrounds and charecteristics make it higher in representativieness

- May be subject to the impostition problem when writing up the edited transcriptafter the interviews. 

- They may be subject to interviewer bias during the interviewing procsess as they may impose there own views, belifs ad opions into the questions.